As always, a trip to the APT XI at QAGOMA in Brisbane didn’t disappoint. One highlight was the detailed carved sculptures in the renowned Ātiawa style by Māori sculptor Brett Graham, reflecting both the colonial monuments and also the pātaka (food store) with wagon wheels representing the food and water that the Pai Mārire residents of Parihaka shared with land surveyors and road builders employed by the colonial government to confiscate their lands.
This edition includes some important new scholarship on the artists of Oceania. Ross Bowden has written an important article Art and Creativity from a Cross-Cultural Perspective based on the talk that he gave at the OAS’s Forum held in Melbourne in 2023 exploring questions of creativity and art as they apply to the Kwoma people.
Future directions for the Oceanic Art Society were discussed at a recent Strategy Meeting; OAS President Jim Elmslie has provided a report in this edition.
Don Wotton has written a heartfelt obituary for leading PNG artist Elisabet Kauage, “I’ll miss catch-ups with Elisabet on my visits to PNG – we had been friends for 35 years.”
After attending the 2024 three day Pacific Arts Association Europe conference, Pierre Laffont has written about the Abelam ceremonial house or haus tambaran displayed at the Humboldt Forum as well as supplying some wonderful images. Crispin Howarth has reviewed the book English Girl in PNG.
Join us in Canberra on 14 and 15 November 2025 as the OAS hosts the thirteenth Oceanic Art Forum at the National Gallery of Australia in conjunction with the exhibition BILONG PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Reflecting on 50 years of independence.
Margaret Cassidy
